Hurricane Michael intensifying, forecast to become Category 4 by landfall

After a few areas of light showers this evening, more rain and damaging winds are on the way to Middle Georgia as Michael makes landfall and quickly moves inland.
The latest forecast track from the National Hurricane Center forecasts that Michael intensifies overnight to a category 4 storm. This would be one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall on the Florida panhandle.
Landfall is expected by the afternoon on Wednesday, near Panama City, FL. Storm surge could be over a foot in Panama City and massive damage there is expected. This is a very dangerous storm and unprecedented in the area.
Closer to home we will see the outer bands of Michael moving in during the afternoon hours. These could contain quick, spin-up tornadoes. **Make sure that you are weather aware and have a way to get your warnings.**
Heavy rain is expected across the Middle Georgia area, where some places (based on the exact track of the storm) could see rain totals as high as 5-7″. This will likely cause flash flooding.
Damaging wind gusts in the area could reach up to 60+ mph during the overnight period Wednesday into Thursday. These wind gusts in addition to the saturated soils could easily cause trees to come down and damage to property.
This is why we are now at a high risk of power outages across much of Middle Georgia, including Macon and Warner Robins.
Once again please have a way to get your weather warnings and updates in the case of power outages. We will be live streaming much of the event on our facebook pages so make sure to follow us there and on twitter.
Kristen will have the latest updates tomorrow morning from 5-7am and then again at 11 am.